Project Domes shonky autos - Grand Cherokee departs, Kangoo titivation and 911 dug out.

[dome]

Manta

I've been picking away at this, still stripping it down to get it to a bare shell. Partly to find all the rust, partly to make space in the engine bay to fit the Duratec. 

Inside the car I carried on getting the loom and dash out of it.

Working in the engine bay I removed everything from the bulkhead-matrix, interior fan and brake master/servo all came off.

Which meant I could pull the rest of the loom out complete.

Here is the entire loom from the car, it's tiny!

Engine bay as of now-still got the wiper motor to remove. 

 

 

The battery tray was pleasingly solid

the opposite side, where the screenwash bottle was, less so

A bit more prodding revealed this

No big surprise, that side looked crusty with more to come no doubt.

I pulled the LH wing off and it was a similar story to the other side. 

Yep, not pretty.

To make myself feel a bit better I've ordered all the parts to rebuild the front suspension-a full set of balljoints, polybushes and a new pair of uprated front springs.  I've also got a set of strengthening plates to add to the wishbones to stiffen things up a bit. That bit I can do. 

I'm on the hunt for a 4ha axle for it, possibly one from a Mk2 Jag as it seems like it will fit and is easier to find than a Scimitar axle. Plan is to 4 link the rear end and fit a Jag POWR-LOK LSD. 

[dome]

A little bit of progress with the Manta-I'm carrying on stripping it back to find the rust in preparation for repairing it. 

On the inside this means stripping back the original sound deadening to find out what lies beneath. This is great fun and tends to involve a hammer and chisel to chip away at it. 

To get a break from this I started stripping back one of the arches to see what I could find. This doesn't look too bad. There's lots of seams and lots of seam sealer. I didn't have to go too far from the rotten parts to find solid (ish) metal. It'll likely end up getting cut out anyway when new panels are made.

 

At the front I've removed the lower front panel-it was pretty rotten and the 400 bumper renders it useless anyway

The engine bay is stripped back and ready for repairs. 

And the headlining has been removed. It was knackered so a bit of brutality had it out. 

[dome]

Small update

Range Rover

I finally got round to changing the rear discs and pads on this. Unfortunately, stupidity happened. The first disc I went to take off was stuck to the hub, or so I thought. Gentle* persuasion with the hammer got it off, but the handbrake shoe material came off with it. And the backing plate is damaged now too. Bollocks. 

Here's what's left of the drivers side, I've reassembled it minus the shoes just now while i order up some new ones.

The other side came off OK (once I undid the adjuster for the handbrake) but was missing one of the shoe retaining clips completely, amazingly the handbrake seemed to work though. I reassembled it using one from the drivers side. Hopeful I can rig up something to get the handbrake working without resorting to trying to change the backing plate, that looks like an arse of a job.

The old discs were pretty bad though so it needed doing.

Kangoo

Carting the MX5 engine in this had the rear wheel rubbing on the arch, but only on one side. Some investigation seemed to show that the drivers side arch had been fettled to allow clearance since it was lowered but not the passenger side. Some delicate* work with a hammer should give me some more clearance, I need to test drive it with a load to see how it is but it feels better.

Manta

I finished off the jig yesterday I had the brackets to fit it onto the car still to assemble. It's now done and I've got the rear section attached, thankfully it hadn't fell off when i left for work this morning. Next up is mount the front too and then leave it for a bit to make sure it's solid, then I can try actually rotating it on the spit 😵

Jack is now removed, axle stands are still there ready though just in case...

Oh, and in the spirit of doing things in the wrong order, I've bought some seats for it. 

    

 

Out of a Corsa VXR, they fit perfectly in with the feel of how I want the car to be when finished. Or at least they will, once I get the centres retrimmed with a reproduction of the Opel Blitz fabric found on the original 400s

A long way off I know but they came up at the right price locally so they can go into storage for a while.

[dome]

Oh and I almost forgot, the MR2 had another track night last week. 

The car was fine, the biggest problem I have is occasionally getting motion sickness during these, even while driving. It seems to be not that unusual and definitely something I need to work on to get my times a bit better 😔

[dome]

Not much has been happening of late as mojo has been low and the fleet has mostly been behaving itself. 

Today, A Good Thing happened. The Manta 400 kit arrived😁

The guys who made it are rallying in Arbroath this weekend so offered to drop it off. A small gift was supplied by me to say thanks. Scottishy goodness

As delivered

Trial fit

Laid out. Hopefully it won't get this close to a tree when it's fitted to the car

[tom13]

More importantly a tub a tunnocks caramels. You lucky people. 

[JMotor]

Teacakes! 

Suppose the rest is alright eh? 

😂 

Seriously doe. I'm looking forward to see the end result. 

[gm]

Lorne Sausage and Brown Sauce crisps ? What a time to be alive  

 

[dome]

Well, in a spectacular* twist of fate I have 4 of the fleet due an MOT in the next month or so. Stay tuned for thrills and excitement as I try and get these heaps through an MOT. Who needs Bake Off?

First contender-

MR2

Not due for a few weeks yet but the handbrake was pish, despite getting new cables last year for its MOT. I removed the rear calipers to wind the pistons back so I could reset the handbrake mechanism.

Sounds easy, right? No pics but it basically has one normal slider pin and one cast into the carrier. So you undo the one slider and try and rotate the caliper up but it doesn't go far enough due to the handbrake cable limiting how far it'll rotate. This means even changing pads is a fucking ballache. Eventually I got the piston wound back, reassembled and with a sequence involving a brake pedal dance and a 10mm spanner all performed whilst facing south and sacrificing a virgin(not an easy task to undertake in Fife) I now have something resembling a handbrake. Oh and I changed a sidelight bulb too. Go me

MOT Status-READY* Due Mid November. 

XJ6

This has sat for a while not being used and the MOT expired last week. All seems well with it (famous last words) so I treated it to a handbrake adjustment-this was an advisory last year.

That, amazingly, went well so buoyed by this I decided to have another crack at greasing the UJs on the rear driveshaft. I had tried before but hadn't been able to get any grease in. This time I removed the nipples to clean them out, reattached and the grease flowed in happily, squeezing the old grease out of the seals. A quick test drive and all else seems well. I remembered how bloody lovely it is to drive though.  We'll not talk about the exhaust condition though...

MOT Status-Booked in for Friday

 

Evoque MODRIN ALERT

Feel free to skip this one, yes its a modern and yes it's a hateful thing but my better half loves it and Land Rover dealers are hilariously bad.  Also, the repair you're about to see is definitely shite worthy.

I'd changed the pads and discs last year but not replaced the wear sensor. This had a tiny split in it so I zip tied it out of the way instead of refitting it. Fast forward to the last month or so and the pad warning light had been coming on intermittently. I checked Euro Car Parts who list two wear sensors, the one I thought needed wasn't in stock at my local one. Time for a proper* fix.

Wheel off and the wear sensor wire disappears in behind the arch liner. Note the excellent condition of the 5 year old "Range Rover"

 

Sensor off I chopped the wires, bared the two sensor wires and twisted them together. Because I'm a professional I then heat shrunk the end of it and plugged it back in, hiding it up behind the arch liner.

Result-warning off

 

MOT Status-Booked in next week

Range Rover-the real one

This is due at the end of November so i thought I'd better start now. 

Known issue-handbrake non existent on the drivers side due to the backing plate being fucked. 

Solution is a new backing plate but like BMWs of this era its a big job to change properly requiring the hub to be removed. Never fail, I had a plan

Take one shiny new backing plate

 

Cut 2 small bits of steel and arrange like so

Drill holes in the steel and the backing plate

Carefully and accurately mark a line down the centre of said plate

Chop the fucker in half and behold!

This should work, hopefully.... I've not swapped it over yet but I have new handbrake hardware to fit at the same time so will hopefully be able to tick that off the list soon.

I also had an issue with it needing 30s or so to warm in the mornings up before it would be drivable. I suspected a vacuum leak or a dirty throttle body so gave it a clean.

 

It wasn't too bad and it seemed to behave better on the next few startups. Annoyingly it's doing the same again now so I'll need to dig further. 

On the subject of the handbrake, when changing the rear discs and pads the retaining spring for the passenger side handbrake shoe was missing. I replaced this with one from the drivers side and though no more of it. Fast forward a month or so and I noticed a light rattle at low speeds. Expecting the worst i started poking around and guess what I found?

 

Yep, the spring and retaining pin must've dislodged themselves and made their way down to rattle around between the disc and the backing plate. Succesfullly removed i can resume wafting in silence.

MOT Status-Due End November-PRAY FOR ME

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Good luck chap, sure it will all be grand!

[juular]

6 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Good luck chap, sure it will all be cost about a grand!

In all seriousness, good luck, I hate the fact all my cars have winter MOTs within about a day of each other..

Shorting out a brake wear sensor is just good preventative maintenance. Who the hell needs them?

[dome]

Results are in for the Jag

 

[Split_Pin]

Hurrah! That exhaust bandage was alright!

[dome]

Evoque passed today, just leaves the MR2 and Rangey which still have slightly more than a month so I'll hold off and get them in where I can get the full 13 months/time to fix them.

Oh, and the Megane i bought yesterday will need an MOT once I get the clutch fixed.

And then there's Mazda 6 2.5 I've just bought as the Mantas engine donor. It just needs to make it to my mates unit where it'll be getting stripped.

Collection should happen soon, did I mention the suspension is fucked?

 

[dome]

MR2 got its MOT yesterday-thankfully it was a pass although the handbrake got an advisory, despite me giving it a going over.  Arse of a thing.

The exhaust did too due to a leak at the manifold where I expertly* welded it together when swapping the 2zz in.  I think we'll get that done properly over the winter, my home made system isn't the best.

The Manta has been got to a rolling state as it's off to get the bodywork sorted soon and the 400 kit fitted 

 

And while it's being entrusted to an expert I have it's new engine tucked up on my garage.

The Mazda6 gave up it's 2.5l 4 cylinder (Duratec) engine without much of a fight

This will get stripped down and rebuilt over the winter ready to install when the Manta comes back-the near identical 2 litre will go off with the Manta to allow mounts etc to be fabricated to fit it, once it's back I'll slot the bigger engine in and try and make it make some noise. 

[dome]

I finally got around to fixing the handbrake backing plate on the rear of the Range Rover.

My expertly* modified backing plate went on last night along with a new set of shoes.

Old, crusty backing plate

New plate on and bolted back together

And shoes fitted

Thankfully the handbrake seems to work, in this side at least! The other side I'll try and adjust up before changing the shoes, it was in decent condition when I looked.

A quick nose underneath shoes a couple of potential MOT issues but I might stick it in first before committing any time/money to fixing it. 

[gm]

a couple of nice ones at the nec today

[dome]

22 hours ago, gm said:

a couple of nice ones at the nec today

I'm loving the stance on the white one, I want to go for something similar on mine but filling the 400 arches😎

[dome]

So, final Rangey MOT prep happened at the weekend.

Adjusted handbrake up-the newly reassembled drivers side was stronger than the passenger side so I wanted to balance them out

Jetwash the worst of the oil leak off the underside of the engine. I still can't work out where it's coming from sadly, i really should change the other rocker gasket. 

Disable the central locking actuator on the rear door that will lock but won't always unlock.

Change a drop link with perished boots-at £10 for the drop link it wasn't worth messing around with replacing the boots.

i'd fell off my bike earlier in the week and knackered my shoulder so the angry grinder was employed to the drop link to make life easier.

Other than that it drives fine, with the odd creak off the underside i can't quite find but i thought the tester might pick up on.

I stuck it in today and it's safe to say I was pretty nervous-it's a big bugger and the thought of trying to replace some of the suspension components gave me the fear. Anyway, results are in...

Yass! Happy with that.

I can now treat it to a new radiator(current one has a slight leak) At the same time I'll inspect the air con condenser-hopefully that'll have a hole in it to explain the system not holding pressure. That and a new door lock actuator will do for starters. 

Have a bonus pic of it looking at home in the countryside.

[Split_Pin]

Excellent news. Lovely big thing this and in a nice colour too.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1 hour ago, dome said:

So, final Rangey MOT prep happened at the weekend.

Adjusted handbrake up-the newly reassembled drivers side was stronger than the passenger side so I wanted to balance them out

Jetwash the worst of the oil leak off the underside of the engine. I still can't work out where it's coming from sadly, i really should change the other rocker gasket. 

Disable the central locking actuator on the rear door that will lock but won't always unlock.

Change a drop link with perished boots-at £10 for the drop link it wasn't worth messing around with replacing the boots.

i'd fell off my bike earlier in the week and knackered my shoulder so the angry grinder was employed to the drop link to make life easier.

Other than that it drives fine, with the odd creak off the underside i can't quite find but i thought the tester might pick up on.

I stuck it in today and it's safe to say I was pretty nervous-it's a big bugger and the thought of trying to replace some of the suspension components gave me the fear. Anyway, results are in...

Yass! Happy with that.

I can now treat it to a new radiator(current one has a slight leak) At the same time I'll inspect the air con condenser-hopefully that'll have a hole in it to explain the system not holding pressure. That and a new door lock actuator will do for starters. 

Have a bonus pic of it looking at home in the countryside.

Congratulations on the pass. 

Has the suspension collapsed in celebration on the offside?

Either that or the grass is bit boggy... 😉

[dome]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Congratulations on the pass. 

Has the suspension collapsed in celebration on the offside?

Either that or the grass is bit boggy... 😉

I was offroadin M9. One life livid and all that😉

[GingerNuttz]

Least this one has floors 😂

 

[dome]

Today was the day for Manta manoeuvring.

A trailer was hired and collected yesterday and this morning the Manta was loaded up.

Ready to roll

It's ok, its MOT exempt m9

 

On the trailer

Don't worry, it did get strapped down!

And off we go, to a man who knows how to do metally magician type things far better than me, @GingerNuttz

Safely deposited I returned to Kirkcaldy to drop the trailer off.

Unsurprisingly the Rangey towed it no bother at all.

Surprisingly it returned the exact same mpg (14) as it does when not towing. Thank fook for LPG!

[dome]

Oh and I took the taillights off before I left the house, they didn't fall off en route 🤣

[jaypee]

Looks like a fairly straightforward car manoeuvre dude, excellent stuff. 

Looking forward to seeing the Manta progress!! 

[sutty2006]

Awesome to see progress on the manta. Haven’t even seen mine for months… 

[dome]

On 01/06/2021 at 08:45, dome said:

So, I'm buying this for the engine, yeah?

 

Oh.

 

Remember this?

I thought I'd strip the engine down to get some practice for when i come to rebuild the 2.5 that will be going into the Manta. Also, I was curious to see the damage inside.

Aye, that's fucked!

Amazingly the crank doesn't look too bad!

[Fraz]

I’ve taxed worse 

[GingerNuttz]

Captain70's would have got another 50K outta that cream puff 😂